Japan shares higher at close of trade; Nikkei 225 up 0.03%

Investing.com – Japan equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.03% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (T:9107), which rose 5.83% or 106.0 points to trade at 1923.0 at the close. West Japan Railway Co. (T:9021) added 4.66% or 233.0 points to end at 5233.0 and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (T:9104) was up 4.61% or 130.0 points to 2952.0 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tokyo Dome Corp. (T:9681), which lost 5.35% or 77.0 points to trade at 1363.0 in late trade. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (T:4568) declined 3.89% or 142.0 points to end at 3511.0 and TOTO Ltd. (T:5332) shed 3.61% or 220.0 points to 5880.0.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1863 to 1642 and 206 ended unchanged on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0% to 22.13.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for January delivery was down 0.18% or 0.08 to $45.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in February unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $48.25 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.59% or 10.75 to trade at $1840.95 a troy ounce.

USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 104.38, while EUR/JPY rose 0.07% to 126.55.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 90.942.